The overall view expressed regarding the commercial exploitation of a 3-D communication media has been that of dissatisfaction due to the absence of quality, the prohibitive expense and timely considerations.
The vast potential of such a medium can only be compared to that of a television.
V. G. Komar, of the Moscow Holographic Research Institute (NIKFI), over the past several years has proposed a method of pulsed coherent light used for indoor filming. A lenticular plate is put in the camera and a special image is stored on the film stock. The Raster Image is then converted into a hologram.
It is possible to develop pulsed lasers with wavelengths ranging from 530 nanometers to 660 nanometers (using yttrium aluminum garnet harmonics of the second order). It is more difficult to create a pulsed laser in the blue part of the spectrum, furthermore a solid powerful high repetition rate pulsed laser has not been developed with suitable characteristics to project a film in real time.
Another problem is the creation of the film stock for color pulsed shooting. Holograms must have a sensitivity corresponding to a useful exposure from 2 to 4 microjoules per square centimeter. They must have a high diffraction efficiency and a low level of noise. Because images are projected off a lenticular screen to the viewer, the size and viewing capabilities are also impaired.
The Acromatic Process projects an object beam on an opal screen and then the transporting reference beam along a horizontal tract with a vertical slit. The process produces a hologram that can only be seen with an expensive coherent light source. It must have a second step process to copy the master hologram, thus multiplying the time process by an even greater factor than the one previously explained.
The proposed invention is a unique process which solves these problems, in the first generation printing, while using neither the pulsed not the slit method.
This invention will expand the reference beam and the object beam with no cylindrical lens elements. This will produce a one-step image plane holographic movie that can be illuminated by regular ambient light. The image beam expanded on a flat film holder will produce a focused, evenly distributed image unhampered by the distortion caused by optical elements resulting in vastly improved quality.
The printing process will be greatly increased by efficiently and more rapidly producing holograms from sequential perspectives of movie or video footage. Overlapping larger amounts of information an smaller space gives optimum channel recording in emulsion, and improved viewing of larger amounts of information on playback. Because this process produces a one-step image plane on a flat surface, any light sensitive paste can by used. Choice of emulsions provides optimum results by offering a larger spectrum of sensitivities. Silver halide, dichromate gelatin or photo resist can be used. The masters are then transferred to an embossed print, pressing master print into thermoplastic, thus eliminating the second chemical process, making mass production both fast and cost effective.
One-step reflection holograms can be easily made by bringing reference beams in behind the plate, utilizing color selection well known for reflection holograms. This brings out color dispersion of near real color while also utilizing all of the other advanced techniques of processing previously mentioned.
In the last decade leading American researchers Steven Benton and Lloyd Cross have reported certain difficulties in both the Integral Holographic movie process and the Acromatic Hologram. These difficulties include:
1. Time Distortion causing the subject to blur in movement.
2. Vertical Slits Registration resulting in unwanted lines breaking up images.
3. Perspective Distortion resulting from images away from center.
4. Unacceptable Print Translation Period now requiring hours of printing for seconds of movies.
5. Exorbitant Production Costs due to the complexity of available apparatus.
6. Two Complete Printing Processes Required to Create Image Plane Movies resulting in a doubling of both time and expense of the system.
7. Cylindrical Lens Used In Object Projection distorting the image and resulting in time smearing. This also results in the printing of unwanted vertical lines throughout the image.
8. Use of Curved Film Holder restricting viewing to a curved screen.
9. Vibration resulting in the cancelling of imagery recorded in a linear fashion.